Dred Scott and the Dangers of a Political Court - Paperback

by Ethan Greenberg (Author)

Dred Scott exemplies neither originalism nor aspirationalism gone wrong, as many modern critics now argue. Rather, the Dred Scott Court erred chiefly because the majority gave in to the still-relevant temptation to subordinate honest legal reasoning to the pursuit of what the majority regarded as a noble and crucial political agenda_in this case, to protect slavery and the political power of the slave-holding South, and thereby preserve the Union.

Author Biography

Ethan Greenberg is an Acting New York State Supreme Court Justice and an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School.